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John Holbrooke
John Holbrooke (b. September 16, 3442-January 8, 3535) was a Dranish politician of the right-wing Rally for the Republic who formerly served as President of Dranland. He was known for his staunch isolationism on foreign policy. Life He was born in Ponte Iglesias, Valdor Province. His parents were shopkeepers and members of the bourgeois middle class. Developing an early interest in politics, he first ran for a council seat in his home town at the age of 20, but lost, and then focused on his academic education, studying engineering and architecture in Santa Sharika until 3468. He then worked as a planning assistant in an architectural agency in Luz de la Mar for two years, before he again eyed a political career. Politics In early 3470, he declared his bid for a seat for Luz de la Mar's western districts, a difficult ground for right-wing politicians giving his right-wing views. However, with a populist campaign focusing on middle-class tax cuts, he achieved an upset and unseated leftist incumbent Ricardo de Soto 53-47 percent, winning one of its few Valdorian seats for the RFR. In 3472, early elections has to be held following the assassination of President Martin Kresteva, and Holbrooke was up for re-election, facing a challenge by his predecessor de Soto, who he had only unseated two years ago. However, he won by in increased margin, 55-45 percent. He was re-elected again in 3476, but lost in the conservative landslide of 3477. He then returned to his architecture profession until he would launch another bid in 3500, at the peak of leftist surge across the nation, proclaiming that he had "a duty to protect the nation from communism." This time, he ran in Santa Sharika, a right-wing stronghold, and easily won. From 3510 onward, he was justice spokesman for his party, before becoming parliamentary leader, which was his first frontbench position, and was mainly assigned to him due to his seniority and experience. When The Good collapsed, he became Majority Leader in 3516, and fought against the downfall of the administration of Gwendolyn Hayforth-Breckinridge until early elections became inevitable in late 3517. Following the election victory of the Alliance of the Left in 3517, Holbrooke became minority leader for his party. Holbrooke was from the beginning extremely critical of the Alliance's policies, and would become the opposition's main attack dog during the presidency of Sarah Goodwin which oversaw the implementation of several left-wing and progressive policies, such as the re-instatement of public education and a ban on GM crops. Holbrooke was especially critical of anti-smoking provisions implemented by the Alliance, which he derided as follows: "(...) these militant non-smokers are apparently incapable of recognizing their personal responsibility. If a normal person goes into a bar and is made aware that it allows smoking, he turns around and walks right out again, in search of a non-smoker's bar. If one of these small-minded statists does the same, he calls for government to force the property owner to provide an own section for him, or otherwise shut the whole place down. This is an act of unbelievable impertinence. I call upon all property owners to impose a house ban on Alliance supporters if they pass this atrocious act." He also criticized the administrations's alleged "wastefulness", claiming that "the Alliance drains the private sector of funds to establish a load of unneeded, wasteful posts. They want a national TOC, a national post office, a national movie regulator body, and, of course, with their tax hikes, an increase in tax collecting bureaucracy. Not a single of these measures promotes productivity or industrial output, which is the engine of growth and wealth creation. We are governed by economic illiterates." Having established a reputation as the foremost anti-Alliance parliamentarian as of 3421, he was selected as the RFR's presidential nominee against Goodwin. Thomas Trelawney praised him as "an excellent, experienced, assertive and enthusiastic long-time parliamentarian" and constant thorn in the flesh of a government willing to grow the state as an end in itself, willing to scrap neutrality to stir tensions with foreign nations over the fate of disgraced priests and willing to destroy scientific innovation for the sake of quasi-religious environmental sentimentalism". Although he lost to Goodwin the 3521, the electoral commission nullified the results as irregularities had been reported. Thus, a new election was held in February 3522, in which Holbrooke won. However, his party and its allies did not win a parliamentary majority, and he sought to re-instate an alliance with the KDF, as they, like the RFR, strongly supported the Neutrality Doctrine. However, soon after Holbrooke took office, this policy was repealed in Parliament at the initiative of DPP and DAL. Although he did not manage to form a minority government until snap polls were held, the RFR-proposed reduction in corporation tax was passed with support of the Blue Collar Bloc, the successor to the DAL. In the 3523 early elections, Holbrooke won a triumphant re-election, largely due to the absence of an Alliance-backed candidate (Adrian Mendiola, one of his foremost rivals, famously failed to file the required paperwork). Meanwhile, his RFR won had its best showing since the days of Jacqueline Townsend. The re-elected President then formed a coalition with PP and KDF, based on their joint support of a non-interventionist foreign policy, although the PP's new leader, Joaquin Banez, was more hawkish than his party mainstream used to be. Despite growing neoconservative tendencies (even in his own party) and pressure to impose sanctions on Kazulia's communist regime, Holbrooke opposed shifting away from his staunch isolationism. Later in the tenure, his health worsened, and he was not able to attend parliamentary sessions as frequently as he used to do. In 3526, he suffered a mild stroke during a rally in Magadonia, from which he recovered, but was left with permanently worsened health. For the last year of his tenure, Vice President Joaquin Banez (PP) exercised his duties, with little legislative activity, which led to a massive defeat for the governing right-wing in the 3527 elections, when Bernard Hammersmith lost to Sean Yates in the election to succeed Holbrooke. Post-Politics Holbrooke's isolationism became unpopular after his tenure, and the new RFR leadership embraced a more centrist foreign policy after the 'Old Guard' was washed away be the 3527 defeat. The ex-President retreated from public life during his last years. He died in 3535 during a spa stay in Mynydd Mawr, Elbian. Category:RFR politicians Category:Dranian people